


perfectly ourselves

by brawltogethernow



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, Flash Fic, Gen, boys and swimming, dæmon practicality, winding down with dæmon drabbles (not really drabbles)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-26
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-27 01:58:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2674628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brawltogethernow/pseuds/brawltogethernow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Certain 'spirit animals' wouldn't make practical dæmons, but souls manage.<br/>-<br/>(Haru, Makoto and Rin's dæmons as something other than a dolphin, a killer whale and a shark. But Nagisa and Rei probably do have a penguin and a butterfly.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	perfectly ourselves

"A witch would no sooner give up flying than give up breathing. To fly is to be perfectly ourselves."

— _The Golden Compass_

* * *

 

Haru's otter looks awkward walking on land, waddling and hopping after him. She's faster in the water, like poetry. It's really pretty fitting, Makoto thinks.

When they were kids she spent a lot of time as actual aquatic things—a dolphin when they were in the ocean, a goldfish he carried around in a drinking glass for a week over summer vacation in elementary school. She tried out dramatic, rare waterbound forms when there was space. It was the only blatantly exceptional thing she and Haru did. The rest of the time she cycled through more species of fish than Makoto knew. Or still knows. When she was a sapphire blue betta she would jump and nip Kako, which was fun. (And flare and fight with Ana as a fire engine red betta fish, which was prophetic.)

Makoto can tell they're a little disappointed she didn't settle as something that would always be swimming. It wouldn't have been practical, though. Even if Haru might have been happy homeschooled on a houseboat.

 

Kakobune settles as a turtle. Makoto thinks it's appropriate for them. She's a pretty big species: She'd probably have ended up a smaller one if they lived in the city. If he lived in a big empty space, he doesn't even want to _think_ how she would have ended up. She could have been a giant tortoise or something! As it is she's a bit over the average for the area they live in. It's surprisingly dense in places, for the kind of town it is. But she's fine. He can pick her up easily. He was worried she might settle as something, like, _unmanageably_ big, and then he would have had to go live on Haru's houseboat, with his hypothetical dolphin.

And she can still swim with him, which is nice. He knew _she_ wouldn't end up water-bound, but picturing Haru's face, him and Suinaga alone (with her as a glittering winged sea monster, or a giant squid, or a _sea cucumber_ or something), kept him up a few nights.

 

When Rin comes back, Ana is a rangy knee-high dog covered in kinky fur, angry and growling at them with a mouthful of sharp teeth. She snaps and snarls at Nagisa's Rita and at Kako when they try to greet her.

She'd seemed pointed and eager when Rin and Haru were about to have a race in an empty pool ( _— Haru—_), but when they find out Rin isn't even on the swim team, Makoto worries for a second that _that's_ why she settled as a dog.

(Or she settled as a dog and that's why Rin quit the sport. God.)

That's settled when Rei's Farufara makes a bad first impression.

"You," she says to Ana, fluttering down from Rei's sports bag to land in front of Ana's paws to peer consideringly at them, "have webbed feet."

"Shut it," Ana growls at her.

**Author's Note:**

> Dæmon names for these guys deserve way more thought than I put into them, and should probably sound like Japanese guy's names to keep the theme. But ow, languages. So:
> 
>  _Suinaga_ is a non-standard way to pronounce the word for _current_ that's usually pronounced _suiryū_.  
>  (Why does your existence have to complicate things, Momotarou, I haven't even watched the season you're in yet.)  
>  _Ana_ is short for _Ānakurūsumosu_ , or _anaklusmos_ — _riptide_ in Greek. Sorry for _that_ mouthful, Shark Week.  
>  Some dogs do have webbed feet. Swimming breeds tend to have curly fur, for waterproofing. Also Aichirou's hobby is playing with dogs, okay.  
> Kakobune - literally a prefix for "house" and a word for "boat" smashed together. Irony. Shortened it can sound vaguely like a girl's name.  
> Farufara - _Farfalla_ is "butterfly" in Italian. And it sounds ridiculous, which suits Rei.  
> [Rita](https://www.google.com/search?site=&source=hp&q=define+littoral&oq=define+littoral&gs_l=hp.3..0l5j0i10l5.554.1997.0.2264.16.8.0.0.0.0.306.306.3-1.1.0....0...1c.1.58.hp..15.1.305.0.CvqYz3-LmlI), because Nagisa already sounds like a word for "beach".


End file.
